Texas State Legislature: "We Need To Make It Clear To All Prosecutors That Suppression Of Evidence .... Is Unacceptable And Illegal."
Among a slew of bills being proposed in the Texas State Legislature is one that targets prosecutors who withhold exculpatory evidence. According to Star-Telegram.com: "The bill would lift the statute of limitations on official-oppression cases and raise the penalty from a misdemeanor to a state jail felony if the withheld evidence was favorable to the defendant. Kelvin Bass, legislative aide for West, said the bill would allow for review years after wrongful conviction."
The problem with the bill, complains Terri Moore, first assistant district attorney for Dallas County, is: "[the] bill would expose prosecutors to punishment even if police had suppressed evidence and prosecutors didn’t know about it. 'Now I’m committing a felony because I didn’t turn something over to the defense that I didn’t even know existed?' Moore said. 'I got a problem with that.'"
We have not seen the actual the bill, but if the police turn over exculpatory information to prosecutors and the prosecutors withhold that information, the prosecutors should be held accountable. With the shield of absolute immunity, prosecutorial misconduct is rarely explored in the context of wrongful conviction lawsuits. When the police present a case to the prosecutors, the ball is in their court, and the police should not be on the hook for the prosecutors conduct. If the police withhold exculpatory evidence from the prosecutors - then the prosecutors should get a pass. They can't disclose information they have no clue exists.
